Sharia law
Children as young as nine are being forced into marriages in Islington, despite a bill brought in by Baroness Cox last year to protect young girls against this aspect of Sharia law.
In a report by local paper Islington tribune, the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) revealed that at least 30 forced marriages took place in the borough in 2010, involving at least three 11-year old and two 9-year old girls.
This backs findings from the Ministry of Justice, which revealed details of more than 30 applications for Forced Marriage Protection Orders in 2011, some of which were made to protect children aged 9-11.
Dinna Nammi, director of IKWRO, said, ‘The girls are still attending schools in Islington, struggling to do their primary school homework, and at the same time being practically raped by a middle-aged man regularly, and being abused by their families. So they are a wife, but in a primary school uniform’.
One girl told the Islington tribune she had been married at the age of 12 to a 32-year-old from Birmingham.
The marriages are conducted by Imams under Sharia law, rendering them illegal according to UK law.
